Cliff Lee

[JohnBriggs12]

One reason I'd like to see the Brewers just bite the bullet on Garza is that as long as Garza's still around eating up both salary and more importantly roster space and a rotation slot, they likely won't explore signing a guy like Lee, who should be very affordable coming off a lost year to injury, and who, if he shows he's anything like his former self, would be in great demand come July. Sure in theory Garza could bounce back and have some marginal value but the key word is "marginal". Assuming they could get Lee for a lot less than $12.5 million, his salary wouldn't prevent any contender, large or small market variety, from paying dearly for his services down the stretch.

[yfinn6]

How would you suggest the Brewers 'bite the bullet' with Garza? They're still on the hook for a lot of money owed to him, so I'm assuming the Brewers are intending to have Garza make 30+ starts, assuming he is healthy and see if he can even have a marginally better season (just using your word marginal here).

 

Paying Garza but not getting ANYTHING for what they're paying for would be a disaster for the Brewers, for what they're trying to do right now. Adding another 12.5 million on top of that doesn't make good sense for a team that is rebuilding. Maybe Lee could be in demand in July, but so could Garza with a decent first half rebound. I don't know, I just don't see the Brewers going out of their way to pay a lot of money for another question mark after already paying a lot of money for one question mark in Garza.

[bill hAll Star]

I'd imagine if the Brewers would assume they can take on a good risk/reward with Lee, they will fit that salary in with or without Garza. If Garza is the deterrent, now you're probably trading away a prospect or two to rid yourself of Garza's salary - just to take the risk on Lee. Uhhhh, yeah, no.

[And That]

If Lee is coming back, have to think he'd wait for an offer from a contending team. With all due respect to the Brewers, he hasn't worked this hard to get back on the mound, to get back on the mound with a bad team.

[MrTPlush]

So lets just dump the $13mil a year on Garza still left just to pay $8mil+ on a 37 year old pitcher who will probably be lucky to make it to June with a healthy arm.

 

Not to mention why would he come to this dumpster fire? Some contender/borderline contender will offer him some cash hoping to hit it big.

[logan82]

Why should we throw good money after bad? We are not contending so why waste money on a guy like Lee. Cliff Lee would be a terrible idea.

[Bnowell4evr]

Why should we throw good money after bad? We are not contending so why waste money on a guy like Lee. Cliff Lee would be a terrible idea.

 

So you can flip him at the deadline for some nice prospects? That's really the only reason why you sign any free agent in a rebuilding phase.

[CheezWizHed]

So you can flip him at the deadline for some nice prospects? That's really the only reason why you sign any free agent in a rebuilding phase.

 

That is a pretty high risk for $12M. If he was $2-5M and we were lacking SP options, sure. But not at $12M for an injured 37 year old when we need to sort out a bunch of mid-rotation type prospects to see who will make it at the MLB level.